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An aptronym, aptonym, or euonym is a personal name aptly or peculiarly suited to its owner (e.g. their occupation).[1]
Gene Weingarten of The Washington Post coined the word inaptonym as an antonym for "aptonym".[2]
The word "euonym" (eu- + -onym), dated to late 1800, is defined as "a name well suited to the person, place, or thing named".[3]
The Encyclopædia Britannica says that the term was allegedly invented by a columnist Franklin P. Adams, who coined the word "aptronym" as an anagram of patronym, to emphasize "apt".[4] The Oxford English Dictionary reported that the word appeared in a Funk & Wagnall’s dictionary in 1921, defined as "a surname indicative of an occupation: as, Glass, the glazier".[3][5] Psychologist Carl Jung wrote in his 1960 book Synchronicity that there was a "sometimes quite grotesque coincidence between a man's name and his peculiarities".[6][7]
In the 1966 book What's in a Name?, Paul Dickson, among other peculiar types of surnames, has a section on aptronyms which includes a list of aptronyms selected from his large collection. The latter originated from the one received from professor Lewis P. Lipsitt of Brown University and further expanded with the help of Dickson's friends, mostly from newspapers and phone books. Some newspaper columnists collect aptronyms as well.[6]
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- Jules Angst, Swiss professor of psychiatry, who has published works about anxiety (angst)[8]
- Michael Ball, English footballer[9]
- Colin Bass, British bassist in the rock band Camel[8]
- Lance Bass, bass singer for the American pop boy band NSYNC[10]
- Mickey Bass, American bassist and musician[11]
- Layne Beachley, Australian former world champion surfer[12]
- Alexander Graham Bell, developer of the telephone[13]
- Bert "Tito" Beveridge, founder of beverage company Tito's Vodka[14]
- Cindy Birdsong, singer and member of The Supremes
- Ian Bishop, Church of England bishop[15]
- Doctor Willard Bliss, physician who treated President James A. Garfield[16]
- Sara Blizzard, meteorologist and television weather presenter for the BBC[8]
- John Blow, English pipe organist at Westminster Abbey[17]
- Usain Bolt, Jamaican sprinter[18][19]
- Doug Bowser, president of Nintendo of America (Bowser is a character from a flagship Nintendo franchise, Super Mario)[20]
- Russell Brain, 1st Baron Brain, neurologist[21]
- Rosalind Brewer, executive at Starbucks and former director at Molson Coors Brewing Company[22][23]
- Rosalind Canter, British Olympic equestrienne (woman who rides horses professionally), winner of the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games[24]
- Christopher Coke and his father Lester Coke, Jamaican drug lords and cocaine traffickers[25]
- Margaret Court, Australian tennis player[9]
- Thomas Crapper, British sanitary engineer[9][26]
- Kutter Crawford, baseball pitcher (cutter)[27]
- Ed Currie, a world-record holding chili pepper breeder[28]
- Mark De Man, Belgian football defender (marking an opposing player)[29]
- David Dollar, American economist[30][31]
- Carla Dove, American ornithologist who specializes in bird strikes[32]
- Josh Earnest, the third press secretary for the Obama administration[33]
- Rich Fairbank, American billionaire and CEO of the Capital One bank, which holds the Fairbanking Mark for offering fair banking products[34][35]
- Cecil Fielder and Prince Fielder, father-and-son baseball players (fielder)[36]
- Jeff Float, American swimmer[37]
- Bob Flowerdew, British gardener and TV/radio presenter[38]
- Amy Freeze, American meteorologist[39]
- Kenneth Gainwell, American college and professional football running back[40]
- William Headline, former Washington bureau chief for CNN[41]
- Thomas Hogg, 17th-century New Englander accused of fathering deformed piglets by having sex with a sow.[42]
- Mike Hookem, former UKIP fisheries spokesperson and former MEP involved in a brawl outside the European Parliament; a hook describes a punch in boxing[43]
- Sunny Hostin, American television host[44]
- John Hunter, Scottish hunter and writer[45]
- Fielder Jones, baseball player[46]
- Igor Judge, English judge and Lord Chief Justice[47][48]
- John Laws, English judge and Lord Justice of Appeal[49]
- Richard and Mildred Loving, plaintiffs in Loving v. Virginia, which legalized interracial marriage throughout the United States[50]
- Bernie Madoff, American fraudster and financier, who "made-off" with the money from his investment scheme[51]
- George McGovern, American politician and senator in the federal government[52][53][54]
- Ken Miles, English race car driver and inductee in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America[55]
- Chris Moneymaker, American poker player and 2003 World Series of Poker champion[56]
- David W. Music, American composer of church music[57]
- Eugenius Outerbridge, inaugural chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; namesake of the Outerbridge Crossing, the outermost bridge between New York and New Jersey[58]
- Chris Pincher, British politician involved in a groping scandal[59][60]
- Gabe Pressman, American journalist[61]
- Eugene Profit, former American football player and current CEO of the investment advisory firm Profit Investment Management[62]
- Francine Prose, American novelist[63]
- Jonathan Quick, American professional ice hockey goaltender noted for his quick style of play[64]
- Immanuel Quickley, NBA point guard known for his speed[65][66]
- Corona Rintawan, Indonesian physician who led Muhammadiyah's command center for the COVID-19 pandemic[67]
- Bob Rock, Canadian music producer best known for his works with rock acts such as Metallica and Aerosmith[68]
- Mat Sadler, English football manager who played for and now manages Walsall, nicknamed "The Saddlers"[69][70][71]
- Tennys Sandgren, American tennis player[72]
- Marilyn vos Savant, American columnist who has been cited for having the world's highest-recorded IQ (savant)[73]
- Toby Savin, English football goalkeeper (saving)[74][75]
- Max Schreck, German actor known for playing Count Orlok in the horror film Nosferatu ("Schreck" is the German word for "fright" or "scare")[76]
- Kayla Sims, American YouTuber and Twitch streamer, best known for playing The Sims 4[77]
- Anna Smashnova, Soviet-born Israeli tennis player[78]
- Daniel Snowman, British historian and author of book on polar explorations[43]
- Larry Speakes, acting White House Press Secretary for the White House under President Ronald Reagan[79]
- Scott Speed, American racecar driver who has raced in a variety of motorsport, including Formula One and Formula E[80][81][82]
- Margaret Spellings, eighth United States secretary of education[30]
- Vania Stambolova, Bulgarian sprinter and hurdler, who stumbled over a hurdle at the 2012 Olympics[83]
- Eugène Terre'Blanche, South African white nationalist (Terre'Blanche translates to "white land" in French)[84][85][86]
- George Francis Train, entrepreneur who was heavily involved in the construction of the eastern portion of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States[19]
- Marijuana Pepsi Vandyck, American education professional with a dissertation on uncommon African-American names in the classroom[87][88]
- Katie Volynets, American tennis player[89]
- Garlich von Essen, secretary general of the European Seed Association ("Essen" is the German word for "food", while the uncapitalized word "essen" means "to eat")[43]
- Keith Weed, president of the Royal Horticultural Society[90]
- Anthony Weiner, American politician involved in sexting scandals[39][91]
- Emily Wines, American wine professional and board chair of the Court of Master Sommeliers[92]
- John Minor Wisdom, American judge[93]
- William Wordsworth, English poet and advocate for the extension of British copyright law[94][95][9]
- Early Wynn, baseball pitcher, member of the 300 win club[96]
- Tiger Woods, American professional golfer; a wood is a type of golf club[9]
- Mary Yu, associate justice of the Washington Supreme Court who officiated the state's first same-sex marriage[97]
- Jack Trevor Story, British novelist[98]
Inaptonyms
- Rob Banks, British police officer[99]
- Grant Balfour, baseball pitcher ("ball four")[100]
- Frank Beard, an American musician who, until c. 2013, was the only member of rock band ZZ Top without a beard[101]
- Don Black, white supremacist[8]
- Peter Bowler, cricketer (in fact, primarily a batsman)[8]
- Samuel Foote, a British actor who lost a leg in a horseriding accident in 1766, and made jokes on stage about "Foote and leg, and leg and foot"[102]
- Claudio Gentile, Italian footballer known for his strength[103][104][105]
- Matt Gobush, spokesperson for Al Gore during his campaign for the 2000 presidential election, which Gore eventually lost to rival George W. Bush[106][107]
- Ciro Immobile, Italian footballer known for eluding defenders[108]
- Colleen Lawless, an American lawyer and judge[109]
- Danielle Outlaw, former Philadelphia Police Commissioner[110]
- Jaime Sin, Catholic prelate. Upon being made a cardinal in 1976, he gained the further inaptronymic title of "Cardinal Sin"[8][99]
- Bob Walk, baseball pitcher[111]
- Autological word
- -onym
- Nominative determinism, the hypothesis that a person's name can have a significant role in determining key aspects of their job, profession or even character
- Occuptional surname
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